Required Fintech Reading: Oct 25 - 31

"All banks, says Michael, are struggling to generate the hoped-for level of shareholder returns. “You do it by [generating] more revenue or reducing costs. Digitisation is a way to reduce [the cost base],” he said."

"It will be the only real-time banking solution available in the United States; even transactions on the similarly new-fangled bitcoin payment network take six minutes or more to be confirmed. Businesses will have to worry less about cash-flow, and retail customers won’t have to wait days or pay extra to send your roommate a rent check. For an idea of how many of BBVA’s customers might adopt this new technology, the company points to its 729,000 mobile banking customers.

"The idea behind CurrentC is for retailers to have lots of data on what their customers are doing. They also want to cut down on the fees of 2% to 3% that retailers are paying to credit-card companies. CurrentC connects directly to your bank account, bypassing the need to use credit cards."

"Those familiar with the history of the finance industry should see numerous parallels with the history of video streaming. Mobile banking has the potential to be as big a disruptor as video streaming has been and, as with streaming, there are a few features that make it poised to spread just as rapidly."